Christmas Tree Brownies
The best ever Christmas Tree Brownies. We had some great family fun today baking a tray of my failsafe Best Ever Brownie and getting festive decorating them as Christmas trees. All you and your little ones need ( or indeed just you if you don’t have kids as an excuse ), are some suitable edible decorations and some green food colouring. These items should be easily obtainable from larger supermarkets or specialist cake decorating shops. The recipe for the butter icing is available here.
The best ever Christmas Tree Brownies – The Best Ever Brownie Recipe
This recipe is for the best ever chocolate brownie you will taste. You could have found it on the menu of every kitchen I’ve been involved with for the last ten years. A chocolate brownie is a rich, sticky, almost gooey, dark chocolate cake normally baked in a tray. You make brownies using one or more types of chocolate and cocoa powder for an extra chocolate hit. For variety you can add extra chocolate pieces or buttons and nuts added before cooking. There is also a sweeter variation of brownie you make with just white chocolate called a blondie.
Christmas Baking – Some of my favourite Christmas recipes
A bit of Best Ever Brownie History
The brownie was first made in America at around the end of the nineteenth century. The first brownies didn’t contain chocolate, the name would seem to be a reference to their colour from the use of molasses. A recipe for the first chocolate brownie appeared in 1899. However the first recipe for brownie as we now know it, a chocolatey cake, was not published until 1906. The tradition of a rich, fudgy textured brownie most probably originated in Bangor in Maine. Lots of cookbooks from around that period have recipes for Bangor Brownies.
The Best Ever Christmas Tree Brownie Recipe
Equipment
- Sieve
- Baking Tray
- Non-stick Baking Paper
- Electric Whisk
Ingredients
For the Brownie
- 185 gram best quality Dark Chocolate
- 185 gram unsalted Jersey Butter
- 3 large free-range Eggs
- 175 gram Caster Sugar
- 100 gram Soft Brown Sugar
- 85 gram Plain Flour
- 40 gram Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean paste
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 50 gram Dark Chocolate drops Optional
- 50 gram Milk Chocolate drops Optional
For the Decorations
- Butter icing
- Edible decorations
- Icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 F / 180 C / Gas Mark 4. Butter and line a twenty centimetre square baking tray ( the sides should be at least five centimetres deep ) with non-stick baking paper.
- Break the dark chocolate into small pieces and place in a medium sized heavy-bottomed pan and add the butter and vanilla. Place on a very low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally to mix them together. Remove from the heat.
- Sieve the plain flour, salt and cocoa powder into a medium bowl to remove any lumps. Save the sieve to one side.
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl and add both sugars, whisk until thick and creamy. The mixture will be really pale and about double its original volume. This is called the ribbon stage. The whisk will leave a trail for a couple of seconds if removed from the mixture.
- Pour in the chocolate mixture and gently fold together, in a figure of eight motion. Carefully mix whilst trying to keep in as much of the whisked air as possible.
- Hold your sieve over the chocolate mixture and resift the cocoa, salt and flour mixture.
- Gently fold this in using the same figure of eight action as before. Stop when the mix is sticky and thoroughly combined. Stir in the dark and milk chocolate drops.
- Carefully transfer the brownie mixture into the lined baking tray and gently level out. Place into the oven and cook for twenty-five minutes. Pull the baking tray to the edge of the oven shelf and carefully shake the brownie. If the brownie is still wobbly in the centre quickly shut the oven door and cook for five more minutes
- When the brownie is done, the sides should not be beginning to come away from the tin. Remove the oven and leave until completely cold. When cold remove from the tin and take off the baking paper.
- Portion as required remember it is very rich. The brownie will keep in an airtight container for two weeks and can be frozen.
- When totally cold cut the brownie into triangles. Pipe a zigzag of green butter icing across the brownie and decorate.
Notes

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